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galvanized fittings

04-16-2008, 10:20 AM

hello all!
i'm a newbie and hope my questions don't appear too stupid but here goes.
is there a fitting that is compression type that will couple two sections of galvanized half inch pipe? i want to cut in to a section between fittings and temporarily repair a pin hole. i know that if it was copper tubing i could solder a sleeve over it or use a compression brass fitting to fix, but like i said this is steel pipe. thanks to all.

Comment

They have compression couplings at most hardware stores. They also have a "clamp on" leak fix thing which bolts around the pipe and presses a piece of rubber against the leak.

I've never used the clamp on thing but have seen them fail (and then replaced with a brass compression coupling).

With the compression coupling, I saw out a small section of pipe (enough to slip on coupling), then if pipe was underground, I file the crud off the pipe ends, especially where the compression rubber will contact the pipe. Then I sand it with wet and dry sandpaper and pour a little water over the pipe ends to clean them.

And as said above, very important to also connect ground wire between pipe ends. Be sure to file/sand/clean for these as well so they make good electrical contact. Certain electrical wiring malfunction situations could become quite dangerous if the "cold water pipe ground" is lost and that ground is the only ground for the house. (New construction also uses ground rods.)